Reissue of the Month: "Sire", Jean Raspail's Forgotten Masterpiece

When Jean Raspail was asked about his conception of the art of the novel, he replied: "It is inventing fairy tales for grown-ups." A fairy tale, The Camp of the Saints? Those who only know Raspail's work through this horrific dystopia published in 1973 have a skewed view of the writer's aesthetic. Those who have read Sire, on the other hand, understand very well what he meant by that.

First published in 1991 by Éditions de Fallois, Sire is Raspail's forgotten masterpiece. The story takes place in 1999, ten years after the bicentennial of the French Revolution. A certain Pharamond de Bourbon, 18 years old and a descendant of the kings of France, decides to be crowned in Reims, as any self-respecting Capetian should. He is surrounded by a few fervent supporters. In Paris, intelligence services are on edge: here is a threat they had not seen coming. Could a new royalist movement be rising in France? Must this revolt be nipped in the bud before a coup by Pharamond II? Sire is not a political novel, but a detective thriller. Although a monarchist by conviction, Raspail does not weigh down his book with heavy ideological treatises. Pharamond II is a "stained-glass king" (an expression dear to Raspail). One is reminded in turn of Serge Dalens and Barbey d'Aurevilly. It is a daydream addressed to those nostalgic for an ancient, chivalric France. A fairy tale, certainly—but one that would give nightmares to Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

Sire, by Jean Raspail. Albin Michel, 315 pp., €22.90.